DPS: Blowing dust possible factor in fatal I-27 accident

A motorist drives slowly on Southwest 34th Avenue on Wednesday. Department of Public Safety officials said dusty, windy conditions may have contributed to a fatal accident on Interstate 27 near New Deal.

Strong winds swept across the Texas Panhandle and South Plains on Wednesday, blowing dust and creating dangerous driving conditions that may have contributed to a deadly wreck on Interstate 27 near New Deal, the Texas Department of Public Safety said.

One man was killed, 17 people were injured and the north and south lanes of Interstate 27 near New Deal and Abernathy were closed about 1 p.m. because of at least two multiple-vehicle crashes involving 23 vehicles.

“It was a domino effect,” said Cpl. John Gonzalez with the Texas Department of Public Safety. “It was down to zero visibility, vehicles started slowing down and other vehicles behind them didn’t.”

Strong northwest winds of 30 mph to 40 mph with gusts over 60 mph moved into the region just before noon and stayed through the night, the National Weather Service in Amarillo said.

The wind made travel extremely difficult, especially in high-profile vehicles, meteorologists said. Blowing dust reduced visibility to one mile or less at times.

The accident on Interstate 27 was the only damage reported by 6 p.m., the weather service said.

TxDOT warned drivers not to travel on Interstate 27 between Amarillo and Lubbock after the accident, but did not close it, except for the accident.

“We are urging caution to parts all over ... West Texas because of low visibility due to blowing dirt,” said Dianah Ascencio, a spokeswoman for TxDOT.

The fatal crash involved a tractor-trailer and a car while another crash on the interstate involved several vehicles, the DPS said.

Eric Finley, spokesman for University Medical Center in Lubbock, confirmed the fatality Wednesday afternoon and said 15 people were en route to UMC and Covenant Hospital via medical bus. The hospital had previously received two patients.

Finley said all 17 suffered minor to moderate injuries.

Gonzalez said his department responded to multiple reports of crashes and was trying to determine if other people were injured. Troopers were still investigating the accidents and did not know if the weather conditions were factors in any of them.

“But you can’t see where the crashes are, it’s that bad out here,” Gonzalez said in a brief phone interview from I-27.

Later Wednesday, a cold front swept through the Texas Panhandle faster and stronger than expected, bringing snowfall to Amarillo as the temperature dropped below the freezing point, said Andrew Moulton, meteorologist for the National Weather Service Amarillo.

“Everyone was kind of expecting it to maybe get into the Oklahoma Panhandle and maybe northern Texas Panhandle, but the front came through much stronger and much faster,” he said. “With it, the snow came much farther south.”

Moulton said snow totals would likely be less than half an inch, but high winds and visibility issues were the main problems. He said winds were gusting 45 mph or higher and didn’t diminish until late Wednesday or early Thursday.

The temperature was 31 degrees at 6 p.m. at the weather service station near Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport.

Moulton said temperatures reached 67 degrees Wednesday in Amarillo, and the weather service expected them to drop into the teens overnight. He said temperatures would struggle to reach the 50s on Thursday.

Looking ahead to the holiday forecast, meteorologists said there is a small chance for a white Christmas this year.

“Right now we’re going with a 20 percent chance. As it gets closer, we’ll be more confident to tell for sure,” Moulton said. “If we do get anything, it will be a light dusting.”

The National Climatic Data Center defines a white Christmas as a snow depth of at least 1 inch. This does not mean it must snow on Christmas, but rather, it means that it must either snow 1 inch on Christmas or 1 inch of snow from a previous day must still be on the ground, the weather service said.

Amarillo had a white Christmas last year, the weather service said.

What is the probability of seeing a white Christmas in the Panhandle? Less than 10 percent across most of the area, but there are a few locations that have a probability between 10 and 25 percent, the weather service said.

In Amarillo, a white Christmas has been observed 11 times since 1892, or about 9 percent of the time.

On Christmas Day in Amarillo — based on climate data from 1892 to 2011 — the average high is 49 degrees, the average low is 23 degrees, the average precipitation is 0.02 of an inch and the average snowfall is 0.16 of an inch, the weather service said.

This is the second severe weather occurrence the area has experienced in a week.

The weather service said three tornadoes touched down in the Texas Panhandle during storms that quickly passed through Friday afternoon. According to the weather service, these tornadoes were the first ones to touch down in December since the 1950s.

“The environment has to be prime for them. The right conditions usually occur only in spring and summer,” Moulton said. “Winter’s conditions are much more stable. That’s why you don’t see such extreme weather in December.”

The weather service does not confirm that a tornado touched down until they perform a storm survey after the weather event.

Staff writer Jacob Mayer and the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal contributed to this report.

Source: National Weather Service in Amarillo

Christmas weather fast facts

■ Warmest Christmas high temperature: 73° F in 1979 and 1971

■ Coldest Christmas high temperature: 14° F in 1983

■ Coldest Christmas low temperature: 2° F in 1983

■ Warmest Christmas low temperature: 49° F in 2005

■ Wettest Christmas: 0.44 of an inch in 1939

■ Snowiest Christmas: 4.6 of an inch in 1939

■ Number of times with rain (trace or more) on Christmas: 23 times out of 120 years (19 percent)

■ Number of times with snow (trace or more) on Christmas: 17 times out of 120 years (14 percent)